Chapter 36

He sat cross-legged, and as his spiritual power circulated, the spiritual killing aura around his body surged like a tide; the immense spiritual power within him continuously flowed toward the depths of his foundation.

Even in the early stage of his foundation establishment, his spiritual sea already equaled that of an ordinary cultivator at the late foundation stage.

Now, at the late foundation stage, his spiritual sea could already match that of a mid-stage Pill Formation cultivator.

If this breakthrough succeeds, the size of his spiritual sea will be able to expand once more.

Generally, when a cultivator breaks through, an invisible barrier appears within their foundation.

This can also be called a shackle.

But for him, none of this exists at all.

In just a short quarter of an hour, his spiritual power frenziedly gathered, and his realm smoothly broke through with a crisp 'pop'.

"Foundation establishment perfected, done!"

"Next... I need to consider how to break through the Pill Formation stage."

"Pill Formation, as the name suggests, is cultivating a Mystic Pill within the body."

It counts as a watershed on the path of cultivation.

Only by reaching this realm can one be considered to have truly set foot on the path of cultivation.

Lu Chen muttered softly, feeling the surging spiritual power fluctuations within him.

At this moment, he felt that every inch of his flesh and every strand of spiritual energy were as obedient as his limbs, extremely solid.

Suddenly, the voice of Empress Qi Luo reached his ears.

"Ordinary cultivators, after a breakthrough, all experience a period of unstable aura, but you..." The Empress's soul body drew near Lu Chen, she used her fingertip to touch his still fairly sturdy chest muscle, and let out a soft "yi", "Not only is his aura very stable, his Dao foundation is also very stable."

"Could it be that your Dao foundation caused this? However, how is your spirit qi sea inside you...?"

The Empress said, suddenly her brows knit tightly, and a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes.

"How could this be..." Her voice rarely carried a tremor, "Your spirit qi sea has actually expanded nearly a hundredfold. Such an increase, even if it were my imperial-grade Dao foundation back then..."

As she spoke, her mind moved, and a special soul power flashed across her fingertip.

Immediately, a wisp of spiritual power on Lu Chen's body was drawn, flying straight to her face.

Looking at that spiritual power thread, the Empress's gaze stalled again.

"The purity of the spiritual power is actually this terrifying; merely a perfected Foundation Establishment can rival late Core Formation."

With these discoveries, she became somewhat unsettled, instinctively grabbing Lu Chen's arm, wanting to question him about something.

"Just what are you..."

The words reached her lips, but her voice cut off abruptly.

Because she recalled their previous agreement, she swallowed the words that had reached her lips.

After a moment of silence, she let out a soft hum, and a hint of arrogance appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"As expected of a Dao foundation above imperial grade... Well, I'm going back to sleep."

She said, her form gradually dissipating, having already returned to Lu Chen's sea of consciousness.

After the Empress left, Lu Chen's mind moved, and the Blood Spirit Sword he had used in the previous grand competition appeared in his hand.

"After the breakthrough, I don't know how much the power of the technique has increased."

His mind moved, and the spiritual power inside his body began to gather toward the Blood Spirit Sword.

"Whoosh——!"

He swung hard, and a fierce blood-colored sword aura suddenly slashed out, leaving a clear mark on the room's defensive formation.

"Not bad, the power has increased more than tenfold!"

Looking at the Blood Spirit Sword in his hand, he could hardly conceal his excitement.

Although not as exaggerated as the expansion of his spirit qi sea, it already far exceeded expectations.

Since obtaining the Blood Spirit Sword from Su Qian, he has been performing blood sacrifices of essence blood every day without cease.

To be frank, if his realm hadn't risen quickly enough, the essence blood naturally condensed by his body would probably have been completely exhausted by now.

"Today's blood sacrifice must not be missed."

Saying that, he drew a drop of essence blood from his brow, letting it fall onto the sword's body.

At this moment, the Blood Spirit Sword seemed to smell prey, instantly devouring the essence blood completely.

After the blood sacrifice ended, he retracted the Blood Spirit Sword and turned back to the bed.

Su Qian took in everything with her eyes, her heart greatly shocked.

After seeing his actions, she instinctively lay down, making preparations.

But soon she discovered that Lu Chen hadn't touched her; instead, he leaned against the headboard, seeming to ponder something.

"Master?"

Lu Chen didn't reply immediately; after thinking for a while, he turned his head to look at her.

"Su Qian, do you know of any pills that help break through to the Core Formation realm?"

He asked this naturally because of the previous Blood-Erosion Foundation Establishment Pill.

It is precisely because of that Foundation Establishment Pill that he could establish the supreme Dao foundation, and thus his cultivation speed is now so fast.

Therefore, if there were similar pills, he absolutely could not miss them.

"Pills that help break through to Core Formation?"

Su Qian obviously hadn't expected Lu Chen to ask such a question.

After all, in her view, Lu Chen is a reincarnated great power who has resumed cultivation.

Given Lu Chen's talent and cultivation speed, he would definitely not stop at the Core Formation realm.

If so, breaking through a mere Core Formation should be as easy as turning one's hand; why would he need pills to aid the breakthrough?

Although puzzled, she still replied:

The sect mission hall has a pill called the Demonic Origin Pill that can increase cultivators' success rate of breaking through to Core Formation by twenty percent.

"What side effects does it have?" Lu Chen asked again.

Su Qian shook her head: "None."

Upon hearing that, Lu Chen immediately stopped considering it.

"Are there any other pills?"

Su Qian pondered for a moment, then immediately listed several pills related to breaking through to Core Formation.

Among these pills, Lu Chen noticed a special demonic pill called the Imprisoned Spirit Pill.

"Please explain the Imprisoned Spirit Pill in detail."

Su Qian, hearing this, didn't understand and simply explained: "The Imprisoned Spirit Pill is generally only attempted by cultivators with insufficient talent."

"Because for them, relying on normal cultivation, it's very hard to break through to Core Formation even after exhausting their entire lives."

"That's why..." she said, as Su Qian suddenly recalled the Blood-Erosion Foundation-Stabilizing Pill that Mei Qianxue had mentioned before, "It's similar to that Blood-Erosion Foundation-Stabilizing Pill; although taking it can increase the chance of breakthrough somewhat, it damages the Dao foundation, causing cultivation to stagnate, making no further progress."

Before she finished speaking, she noticed that the naked Lu Chen's eyes suddenly lit up.

She then reached out and grabbed her hand, anxiously asking: "This is it—where can I get it?!"

Lu Chen's reaction surprised her, and she truly didn't understand why he wanted this pill.

However, she already had enough things she didn't understand.

"There probably isn't such a technique within the sect; if you want to find it, you might only be able to try your luck at a few nearby ghost markets."

"Ghost market? What kind of place is that?"

"Put simply, it's a trading ground for demonic cultivator disciples. There seems to be one on the other side of the Nine Abyss Mountain Range."

"A trading ground... that happens to be a good opportunity to look for a technique that helps condense essence blood." Lu Chen thought, his brows slightly furrowing.

Seeing that he hadn't come to his senses for a long time, Su Qian tentatively asked: "Master... do you still want to continue the dual cultivation?"

She was about to put on her clothes when she saw Lu Chen raise his hand to stop her.

"Of course we must continue."

Saying that, Lu Chen flicked his fingertip, and the lights in the room went out just right.

In the darkness, only Su Qian's muffled groans could be heard incessantly.